Haibara Disappears
by PyroKid
Summary: Haibara runs away and Conan and Heiji scour Beika looking for her, but come across a letter regarding the Organization... it seems that there is to be a fairly large meeting in the States... ConanxAi, ShinichixShiho. WIP, on hold or discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

Bang!

With a gasp, Conan Edogawa awoke. He was breathing heavily, and his forehead was beaded with sweat. He had had that dream again, the one that was always haunting him. He couldn¡¦t forget it, especially not now. Ai wouldn¡¦t let him forget.

In the dream, he was always riding his solar-powered skateboard, gritting his teeth as he urged it to go faster. He pulled to a stop when he saw the red car. As he approached the abandoned garage, he heard a gunshot. He ran into the garage, but there were no signs of Gin or Vodka. Akemi Miyano lay on the floor. He rushed to see if she was still alive.

¡§I told you not to come.¡¨ he whispered sorrowfully.

¡§Who are you?¡¨ she gasped.

¡§Conan Edoga- no, Shinichi Kudo.¡¨ he answered.

¡§You¡¦re he! The one they¡¦re looking for! You¡¦re not dead?¡¨ Miyano asked in a shocked voice.

¡§So, we have Kudo now.¡¨

Conan spun around, but he knew that cold, evil voice. Gin. Slowly, Gin took a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at Conan. Bang! It was the only dream Conan had had since Akemi Miyano died. He often wondered what would have happened if his skateboard had worked that day. But then, he never would have met Shiho.

Shiho Miyano, or Ai Haibara; just like Shinichi was Conan now, Shiho was Ai Haibara, his classmate at Teitan Elementary School who had also taken APTX-4869. She had wanted to commit suicide but instead, the medicine shrank her too. Now she lived with Professor Agasa, who lived next to Shinichi¡¦s house, and pretended to be his relative. She was a member of the Black Organization. She was furious when they killed her sister, her last living relative, and was determined to get revenge. Unfortunately, she was captured. In defiance, she tried to commit suicide by swallowing one of the pills she had created. Instead of killing her, it shrunk her. Devastated by her present state, she set out to find Shinichi Kudo. She found his now-deserted house, but collapsed from fatigue and was found by Professor Agasa, Shinichi¡¦s next-door neighbor. Shiho Miyano had disappeared and resurfaced as Ai Haibara, elementary school kid.

As his thoughts turned away from the Black Organization, Conan relaxed. He was now thinking about the red-haired girl who was his desk mate at Teitan Elementary School. He had never met anyone like her. At first, they hadn¡¦t gotten along very well; she had blamed him for her sister¡¦s death, and he had blamed her for creating the APTX-4869. Now, however, he knew that Ai wasn¡¦t just a traitorous, cold-blooded murderer. From the way she looked at him now, he knew that she no longer blamed him for her sister¡¦s death, either. If only that could stop the nightmare...

¡§You look worried.¡¨ Ai remarked as Conan slipped into his desk the next morning.

¡§It¡¦s nothing.¡¨ Conan said.

Ai stared at him; Conan felt his cheeks turn red.

¡§What¡¦s the matter, Kudo?¡¨ she asked in a whisper.

Under her piercing gaze, Conan couldn¡¦t bring himself to lie to her. 

¡§ I had a dream about your sister¡¦s murder,¡¨ he admitted. ¡§ And I¡¦ve been having it ever since the day she was shot.¡¨

Ai¡¦s expression softened. 

¡§ It wasn¡¦t your fault and you know I don¡¦t blame you for her death...Shinichi.¡¨

Ai whispered.

Conan was surprised. Ai had never called him Shinichi before. His face grew redder.

¡§ Okay, class, what¡¦s 1+1?¡¨

Conan and Ai ignored the teacher and went on talking. Thinking she could embarrass Conan in front of the class by giving him an extremely hard problem as punishment for talking, she said, ¡§ Conan, what¡¦s 5+12-8?¡¨

To everyone¡¦s amazement, Conan muttered ¡§9¡¨, and resumed his conversation with Ai as if solving ¡§5+12-8¡¨ was no big deal. Unsatisfied, the teacher turned and glared at Ai.

¡§ Haibara, what¡¦s 12+12-7?¡¨

¡§17¡¨ Ai promptly replied.

The teacher¡¦s mouth dropped open, but she quickly recovered herself.

¡§ No talking during the lesson,¡¨ she said as she walked past them.

Conan and Ai smiled at each other and continued talking. 

When the bell finally rang for recess, Ai and Conan joined in the mad scramble for the door.

¡§ Finally, we can talk.¡¨ Conan said. The relief in his voice was evident.

¡§ We were talking anyway.¡¨ Ai reminded him.¡¨

Conan smiled and nodded. He turned his face toward Ai as he watched her, deep in thought. As he studied her, he started to think of her sister¡¦s death again. He heard the gunshot. In his mind, he saw her sister collapse on the floor. Gin and Vodka reappeared. Gin fished the gun out of his pocket. Shiho¡¦s sister took one last breath and died. Conan turned around, and heard Gin¡¦s gunfire again. He wished again that he could forget what happened that day. If only he hadn¡¦t shrunk... Could he have saved her?

¡§Why? Why didn¡¦t I just die?¡¨ Conan yelled as he stomped across the playground. The rowdy kids didn¡¦t even notice as he walked angrily past them.

Ai looked after his retreating shadow. She pictured how Shinichi¡¦s life had been before he had taken the medicine. The names of the other victims flashed in her head.

¡§ Do you blame me, Kudo?¡¨ she whispered. She knew that in the beginning, he had blamed her, but she had thought that...

¡§ Never mind.¡¨ she thought sadly.

¡§ His world was perfect without you.¡¨ she told herself.

¡§ Bye!¡¨ Genta, Mitsushiko, and Ayumi cried as they were preparing to walk home.

Ai and Conan walked along the streets in silence. They both had many things to say to each other, and the silence disturbed them both, but they each thought the other was thinking of past memories and silently cursing them.

When they reached Professor Agasa¡¦s gate, they turned and gazed into each other¡¦s eyes. They held the stare for a minute, then turned and walked in opposite directions.

It was the middle of the night and Conan woke with a jolt again. This time, it was for a different reason.

¡§ Haibara.¡¨ he thought. He knew something had happened.

Without a second thought, Conan sped out of the Mouris¡¦ house, grabbing his skateboard on the way. He placed his skateboard on the ground and jumped on. It didn¡¦t move.

¡§Hey, what¡¦s wrong?¡¨ he asked himself. ¡§Oh yeah¡Kit¡¦s solar powered.¡¨ He looked at his watch, which read 2:34. He grit his teeth, and hurriedly installed the back-up battery.

¡§ Haibara, please be all right...Shiho.¡¨ he prayed as he sped through the streets, cursing his skateboard at the same time.

¡§ Professor!¡¨ he yelled as he banged on Professor Agasa¡¦s door.

He was about to kick the door down when an annoyed Professor Agasa opened it.

¡§ What is it, Shinichi?¡¨ he muttered.

¡§ Shiho, where is she? Where is Shiho?¡¨ panted Conan as he ran through the door.

The astonished Professor followed Conan as he ran toward the cellar, shouting Shiho¡¦s name.

Conan¡¦s hand trembled a little as he reached for the doorknob.

¡§ Please be alright.¡¨ he thought as he flung open the door.

The room was empty. He looked around frantically, trying to see if Haibara was in some corner of the room, but she was gone.

¡§ Damn it!¡¨ he shouted.

Conan weakly backed away from the door and met the Professor in the hall.

¡§She¡¦s gone.¡¨ he said.

¡§ What?¡¨ gasped Professor Agasa, ¡§ Why?¡¨

¡§I don¡¦t know.¡¨ Conan said blankly. ¡¨I don¡¦t know.¡¨

Professor Agasa looked at Conan, then led him to the couch in the living room.

¡§Sit here.¡¨ he ordered. ¡§I¡¦ll fix you a cup of tea.

As he sat on the couch, Conan thought about what had happened that day. Why had Ai been so quiet on the way home from school? She had seemed immersed in her own thoughts and he didn¡¦t want to bother her because of the sad glint in her eye. What had she been thinking? Then his thoughts floated to recess, when he had stomped away angrily.

¡§Did I make you mad, Shiho? I wasn¡¦t blaming you. You didn¡¦t think I was, did you?¡¨

Then he remembered her saying, ¡§You know I don¡¦t blame you for her death, Shinichi.¡¨ Professor Agasa came in with two cups of tea and a letter.

¡§Ai left me a letter on the kitchen table.¡¨ he stated.

Conan snatched the letter. It said:

Dear Professor Agasa,

Thank you for allowing me to stay at your house and caring for me. I¡¦m leaving because I have to find a cure for the drug I created. I can¡¦t stay and endanger you, the kids, or Kudo. Everything would have been fine if I had never existed or created the medicine. Please tell Shinichi I¡¦m sick and don¡¦t tell him I¡¦m leaving. I will make everything right again.

Ai Haibara.

¡§It¡¦s all my fault.¡¨ Conan thought miserably as he finished the letter. She must have been angered or hurt when I threw that tantrum during recess. He silently cursed himself for losing control.

¡§I¡¦m sorry, Shiho.¡¨ he thought. ¡§I will find you, no matter what it takes, I will find you. Will you forgive me?¡¨

How could she just leave like that?

¡§That fool!¡¨ Conan yelled, losing control once again. ¡§She will only get herself killed or make things worse. Professor, I need to use your phone.¡¨ he said.

Ring, ring, ring.

Heiji Hattori looked at his watch.

¡§Three in the morning!¡¨ he shouted.

Luckily, his parents were on vacation with Kazuha¡¦s parents. It was probably Kazuha.

¡§Nice time to call.¡¨ he said.

¡§You stupid imbecile!¡¨ he yelled into the phone, thinking it was his childhood friend. ¡§Can¡¦t you wait until tomorrow? If your parents were home, you would get busted!¡¨

¡§Uh, Heiji? Did I call at a bad time?¡¨ Conan, slightly surprised, asked.

¡§What? Kudo? No, of course not...I just thought... I mean _yes! It¡¦s three in the morning! You¡¦d better have a good excuse for calling this early.¡¨ Heiji replied._

¡§I do. Listen, I need your help. Come over to Professor Agasa¡¦s house.¡¨ Conan told him.

¡§Now?!¡¨

¡§Yes! Get here by five. I¡¦ll explain when you get here.¡¨

¡§But... it¡¦s three in the morning.¡¨

¡§Spring vacation starts tomorrow, you have nothing to worry about!¡¨ Conan snapped.

At five o¡¦clock Heiji and Kazuha knocked on Professor Agasa¡¦s door.

¡§Luckily for you my parents are gone, they would have chewed you out for barging into the..._my_ house at three in the morning and dragging me all the way over here!¡¨ Kazuha remarked grumpily.

¡§Shut up, idiot, you¡¦re lucky I brought you along at all.¡¨ Heiji retorted.

¡§Good thing it¡¦s spring vacation.¡¨ Kazuha grumbled.

¡§Oh, no!¡¨ Conan thought. ¡§He brought Kazuha. She can¡¦t find out about me.¡¨

He looked at Heiji and mouthed ¡§Alone¡¨. Heiji nodded. He turned to Kazuha, smiled, and said, ¡§Kazuha, I¡¦m sorry I got you up so early this morning and dragged you over here without an explanation. Why don¡¦t you rest on the couch for a while before...before we go visit the Mouris?¡¨

Kazuha glanced at him suspiciously before she walked over to the couch. She lay down and was asleep within seconds. Heiji looked at her and smiled before he turned to Conan. Shinichi nodded and led Heiji to Professor Agasa¡¦s cellar, where Ai spent most of her time.

¡§She disappeared.¡¨ he moaned in a plangent voice. ¡§Haibara¡¦s gone.¡¨

¡§Who?¡¨ Heiji replied in a puzzled voice.

¡§She¡¦s my classmate at school...¡¨ Conan started.

¡§You got me up at three and made me come here because of some elementary school girl?¡¨ Heiji asked.

¡§No...¡¨ suddenly, Conan wasn¡¦t sure what to tell Heji. He wanted Haibara to be back, unharmed. He didn¡¦t want to talk about her. He knew Heiji would explode and yell at him for not telling him sooner and for making him come halfway across Japan for a ¡¥filthy criminal¡¦. He could see it already. He took a deep breath.

¡§We met at school the day when the counterfeit criminals were caught, I told you about it, remember?¡¨ he paused and looked at Heiji. ¡§I didn¡¦t tell you about her, though. She shot at one of the criminals, which alerted the local police. I was surprised. After it was all over, I walked her home. She was crying, and I was annoyed that I had to walk a sobbing little girl home. Suddenly, she stopped in the middle of the street. She opened her mouth and said, ¡§APTX-4869.¡¨ Shinichi glanced at Heiji again. Heiji noticed that he looked a little flushed.

¡§Just give me the most important facts.¡¨ Heiji said.

Conan nodded and said, ¡§ She claimed to have made APTX-4869. She also said that she was a member of the Black Organization and she had betrayed them and taken the poison.¡¨

¡§APTX...what?¡¨ Heiji asked, confused.

¡§APTX-4869 is the medicine that shrank me.¡¨ Conan calmly said. The response was almost exactly as Conan had envisioned.

¡§You never told me about this!¡¨ Heiji screamed. ¡§Are you crazy, Kudo? Is this a joke or something? Why did you ask me to come here at this time so we could save that criminal? She made that...that...that _poison_ that nearly killed you!¡¨

¡§I am aware of that.¡¨ Conan said coldly. ¡§Now, if you would kindly shut up, I will continue.¡¨ He handed the Heiji the letter Haibara had left Professor Agasa.

¡§It¡¦s all my fault.¡¨ he said. ¡§I had to bring it up and throw a tantrum. Everything was fine.¡¨

¡§What?¡¨ Heiji jeered. ¡§Shinichi Kudo throwing a fit on the playground?¡¨

¡§Shinichi Kudo?¡¨ asked Kazuha as she stepped into the room. ¡§Isn¡¦t he that rival of yours?¡¨

¡§Wha...what? I thought you were sleeping.¡¨ Heiji stammered.

¡§Well, I¡¦m not.¡¨ she replied crossly. Then, she turned and glared accusingly at Heiji and Conan. ¡§You two are keeping something from me...¡¨

¡§Of course not... we¡¦re just talking about how stupid Kudo is. Isn¡¦t that right, Conan?¡¨ Heiji asked with a smirk. After shooting Heiji a death glare, Conan pasted a big, fake smile on his face. ¡§Yep.¡¨ Conan replied as he ¡§strangled¡¨ a couch pillow. Just pretend it¡¦s Hattori. He kept telling himself.

¡§Okay, let¡¦s go to sleep now.¡¨ Heiji said as he pushed Conan and Kazuha out of the cellar. Giving them a little shove, Heiji paused by Professor Agasa and whispered, ¡¨Just give Kazuha the room way down the hall from ours, please.¡¨

A few minutes later Conan and Heiji were in their room.

¡§ Kudo, what do you plan to do about this?¡¨ Heiji asked.

¡§ Find her, of course.¡¨ Shinichi replied.

Heiji was astounded. ¡§ Why?¡¨ he asked. ¡§ She¡¦s killed a lot of people with that medicine, you know. Why don¡¦t we just let her go and be killed? It¡¦s her fault you¡¦re small now, you know. Just forget about her. Pretend you never knew her.¡¨

¡§ No, I can¡¦t just forget her. We have to find her.¡¨ he looked at Heiji. ¡§ I have to. I can¡¦t act as if she never existed. I have to make sure she¡¦s alright.¡¨

Shinichi lay down and pulled the blankets up ever his head. ¡§ I won¡¦t forget her.¡¨ he thought. He thought of the red-haired girl and gradually drifted off to sleep.

¡§ Shinichi, think about it. Think about who she is and what she¡¦s done. Why do you care about what happens to her?¡¨ Heiji looked at Shinichi strangely. ¡§ Why is she so important to Kudo?¡¨ he wondered.

¡§ Kudo? Why does she need to be in your life at all?¡¨

There was no answer. Heiji looked over and saw that Shinichi was already asleep. He stared at him for a second, then lay down and instantly fell asleep. 

In the dark, deserted streets of Beika, a small red-haired girl sat on a bench. The girl was as still as a statue. She looked up at the sky and wondered how it was like to have people worry about you when you disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

" Will you even notice that I'm gone, Shinichi? Don't worry; you won't have to see me anymore. I'll find a cure for us. I promise, Kudo." she whispered to herself. With that promise, Ai Haibara slid of the bench and walked on.

It was six o'clock. Ai had just realized that she had nowhere to go. She had left suddenly with feelings of anger and confusion. She briefly thought of going back, but quickly decided that she wasn't going back without the antidote. She thought about Kudo again, and suddenly, she knew exactly where she could stay.

" Thanks, Kudo." she thought. " Don't worry about me at all."

Shinichi had been unable to sleep. He had dozed for twenty minutes, but he had woken up again because he was too worried about Shiho.

" Where are you? Do you have food, or money, or anything? Please be alright. How will you live?" he wondered. He read the letter again, trying to get a clue to her whereabouts, but he found nothing.

Ai stealthily walked up the street to the Kudos' house. When she reached the gate, she tried to get in, but found that she was too short. She sighed in annoyance, then glanced around and quickly climbed over the gate. Once inside the garden, she ran up to the door of the house. She scowled upon discovering the locked door, but soon remembered that Professor Agasa had come a few weeks ago and cleaned out the refrigerator. He had also opened a window to let in some air. Was it still open? She ran around to check. It was. She smiled happily. There was even a trellis that she could climb on. She grinned, climbed up the trellis, into the house, then turned back and shut and locked the window. It had been so easy for her to get in!

She explored downstairs. When she was done, she walked up the stairs to explore to second level of the house. She saw a closed door and opened it. It was a bedroom. At the sight of the bed in the room, she suddenly felt exhausted.

" Well, I've been wondering in the streets since two." she thought. " I'll just rest for a while."

Ai crawled onto the bed and was asleep before she even had a chance to adjust the covers.

Heiji woke with a yawn at eight o'clock. He stretched, than glanced at Kudo to see what he was doing. From Shinichi's expression, Heiji knew exactly what he was thinking. Kudo was still determined to save that girl. The criminal.

" Shinichi, why are you-"before Heiji could finish, Shinichi cut him off.

" Heiji, I know what you think. Really. I felt the same way in the beginning, but-"

Now it was Heiji's turn to cut him off.

" You like her, don't you?" Heiji asked.

" I don't know." Shinichi admitted. " I just know that I hated her in the beginning, but now I don't know. I only know that I don't want her gone, and she's gone."

"What about Ran?" Heiji asked.

" Who cares? I never said I loved her, did I?" demanded Shinichi. " Maybe I liked her for a while, but I don't now. I'm sure about that."

" I can't believe it!" Heiji exclaimed.

Just then, Professor Agasa came in the room and handed Conan the phone, smiling.

" Is it Haibara?" Conan asked the Professor, but as soon as he did so, he heard Ran's voice on the other end.

" Conan! Why did you just run off like that?"

Conan scowled.

" I'm spending spring vacation with Professor Agasa."

" You can't do that!"

" Yes I can, he's my relative and he invited me. See you after the vacation."

" But Conan-" Conan hung up.

"Idiot." he scowled at the phone.

Heiji handed the phone back to Professor Agasa, who left to put it back.

" Never mind, I believe you now." Heiji said. " How exciting! You no longer like you old girlfriend because you've met a girl from a criminal organization."

" Ran was never my girlfriend. We were never more than friends anyway. She's too annoying." Shinichi shrugged. " Anyway, Heiji, please help me find Shiho. Please don't judge her because of her past. Meet her yourself."

" Okay, Kudo. I'll help you find her." Heiji promised. " It's just that you're my best friend and I don't want her to hurt you."

" She won't. I know she won't." Shinichi said. " Don't worry."

He turned and looked Heiji in the eye.

" Thank you, Heiji. You're my best friend too. I hope you know that," he stated truthfully.

" All right, where should we start?" Heiji wondered.

" I don't know. I looked at the letter she left, but I can't find a single clue." Shinichi admitted.

" Let me see it again." Heiji said as he reached for the paper. He read it and held it up to the light.

" I can't figure anything out either." Heiji confessed.

" Tell me her whole story." Heiji demanded.

" All right, but don't tell anyone about it, okay? Not even Kazuha." Shinichi said.

" I promise I won't tell anyone, Heiji promised."

" Her real name is Shiho Miyano..." Shinichi began.

As Ai slept in the Kudos' house next door, Shinichi told Heiji about their life, her sister, the medicine, and everything he knew about her. When he finished, Heiji nodded.

" We'll have to look all over Beika for a clue to her surroundings, then." Heiji decided.

" Let's go now." Shinichi said.

" Wait! Kudo, we have to eat something, and I have to get rid of Kazuha so she doesn't annoy us." Heiji said.

" Hurry! We don't have time! Tell Kazuha to spend the day with Ran." Conan anxiously said.

" Let's go to breakfast." responded Heiji.

Shinichi dragged Heiji towards the dining room. They met Kazuha in the hall, and they all walked down to breakfast together. At breakfast, they persuaded Kazuha to visit Ran. After that, Hattori and Conan headed out the door.

"Where could she be?" Conan wondered.

"She could be anywhere. She's probably not even in Beika anymore, you know. If she's been out since two, she could be anywhere by now." Heiji said.

"Why would she leave Beika for no reason?" Conan asked.

"How do you know she didn't find a reason?" Heiji demanded.

Conan and Heiji had been wandering around Beika all day. Of course, they had never searched Shinichi's house. They had looked in shops, restaurants, hotels, and even gas stations, but had found nothing. Now the sun was setting. Heiji looked up at the sky.

"It's getting late." he remarked. "Let's go back to the Professor's house now."

"No, lets keep looking." Conan objected.

Heiji pointed out that if they wanted to find Ai, they had to get a decent amount of rest. Shinichi knew he was right. He realized that he had only slept four hours the previous night. He was so tired that Heiji had to pick him up and carry him back to Professor Agasa's on his back.

Professor Agasa was surprised at Heiji carrying Conan through the door.

"What made him so tired?" asked the Professor.

"Well the fool hasn't slept well and he didn't eat well either. He was too worried about Shiho Miyano." Heiji smirked.

Conan reached up and hit Heiji on the head. Heiji just smiled.

"Put me down." Conan said to Heiji. Heiji obeyed.

"Did Haibara call?" Conan asked the Professor hopefully. Professor Agasa shook his head.

"Well we know she's not here, she's not at the Mouris', and she's not at your house, Shinichi," the Professor said.

"We never checked my house." Conan said.

"Why would she be there?" Heiji asked.

"Yes, come on, she wouldn't run away just to go next door." Professor Agasa said. "So other than here, your house, and the Mouris', she could be anywhere."

"But we checked everywhere!" Conan cried.

"Is Kazuha here yet?" Heiji asked Professor Agasa.

"She called to say she was coming home 15 minutes ago," he answered.

The door opened and Kazuha stepped in.

"I'm here!" she sang. She was loaded with bags and items. "You fool!" she snapped at Heiji. "Can't you see I need help with my bags? Carry them to my room!"

Heiji smiled, picked up a few bags, and walked towards Kazuha's room.

"Where could she be?" Conan thought.

"If she's planning to work on the antidote, it would be helpful to have a computer. Have you checked the library?" Professor Agasa asked. "It's a really big place. Did you check all eight floors?"

"Yeah, but like you said, it's really big, and there were so many people." Conan said. As he said it, he realized that the library was almost closing and would be empty soon. Heiji and Kazuha walked back in. Conan took Heiji aside.

"Pack your bags! Let's spend the night at the library and look for her." he whispered.

It sounded a little crazy to Heiji, but he had nothing to do.

"What about Kazuha?" he asked.

"She can come along. She does know martial arts, right?" Conan said. "But don't tell her the plan or she'll disagree. Just bring her. We'll waste time in the library until it closes. Just play along, okay?"

They packed and returned downstairs. 

"Let's go to the library!" Conan cried.

"Okay!" Heiji hurriedly said before Kazuha could object. "Kazuha, do you want to come?"

"Yes, I'm coming." she said.

They boarded a bus and got to the library.

"Look!" Conan exclaimed. "It's the Final Problem. I'm going to read it and be a detective like Mr. Mouri."

Heiji's mouth dropped open. "Wh-" 

"So what? Let's get out of here and go eat dinner." Kazuha interrupted.

"No, I'm not finished yet." Conan objected. "Please, let's wait a little longer."

"Can't you check them out?" Heiji asked.

Conan shook his head. "I don't have a library card." he said.

"Well, don't look at us, we don't even live here." Kazuha told him.

The lights went out.

Conan smiled to himself in the darkness.

" Let's get out." Kazuha cried. " We'll get trapped."

" Shh." Heiji warned as he took out a flashlight.

Kazuha's eyes narrowed suspiciously. " How did you know to bring a flashlight?" Kazuha asked.

"Detectives _always have flashlights." Heiji snapped._

" Okay, so why do you have one?" Kazuha retorted.

" Shh. Someone's coming. It's one of the guards." Conan whispered.

" Good. They can help us get out." Kazuha said.

" Just shut up and hide in the bathroom until they lock up and leave." Heiji commanded.

" What? Why? Don't we want to go?" Kazuha asked.

" Just hide!"

After the guards left, Kazuha demanded an explanation.

" My best friend was kidnapped, well, she just disappeared. I don't know where she is and she might be in danger." Conan explained.

" Your best friend is a girl? How weird." Kazuha jeered.

" Well, I like her better than anyone else in our class. Everyone else is so stupid." Conan said.

"Oh..." Kazuha trailed off. "But I can't believe your best friend is a girl!"

"Who's your best friend, Sister Kazuha?" he asked.

Kazuha immediately thought of Heiji and blushed. "It's ... Ran, of course," she stammered.

"Brother Heiji isn't your best friend?" asked Conan.

"No, he's an idiot." Kazuha said with a smile.

"Aren't you his girlfriend?" Conan continued.

"Enough, let's start looking." Heiji said.

Conan walked out of the room, leaving an embarrassed Heiji and a red-faced Kazuha looking into each other's eyes.

Ai sat up and stretched. She looked around for a second, then remembered where she was. She located the computer, turned it on, and started tapping away at the keys. She had a clue now. The white spirit... and she also had the results of the other experimental drug.

Conan, Kazuha, and Heiji searched the entire library. They looked behind every bookcase, in every stairwell, every desk, and at every computer but they found nothing. They combed every inch of the eight-story library. Conan looked around cautiously.

"Haibara!" he called softly. "Haibara! Where are you? Are you in here? Haibara!"

He shone his flashlight on the bookshelf. As he did so, he noticed that the G encyclopedia was out of place. It was now behind the H encyclopedia. He took it out and opened it. It fell open to the article about Gin. There was a sheet of paper between the two pages. Conan took it out. It said:

_We can burn the will. Now everyone can be rich. We are relocating to help out everyone. We are going to make plans to build. It will be the biggest, best, grandest new baseball stadium that American people run to. We must find will in order to be rich. They then needed a diamond ring to be able to have any one of the famous baseball player's appearances in the form of a big, fat, rat. A place to have company. We have invited everyone. The party's location is the big museum to the right of the Leave Money Here store. Their owner is on mission to find money or to find a job. It is all for the best party at the big museum, least of all to an expensive ballet show. Month is now April and no one can go wear a coat to their school to meet their best friend in the whole world. Austin is there now in the deserted school. One rat bit him. Week is now over, or nothing else._

"If I didn't know Gin, I'd think this was just a stupid kid's scrawls." Conan thought. "Is this to Gin or from Gin? What's the code? I'd better show Heiji."

Conan copied the phrase in his notebook and put the paper and encyclopedia carefully back in place.

Heiji smirked. "Of course I can figure this out, Conan." he bragged as he took the notebook. Kazuha sat beside him. Her eyes were wide and interested.

"We can stay here tonight and go to the encyclopedia section tomorrow and see who get the message." Conan said.

Heiji nodded, but his thoughts were on the paper.

"Give me the paper, Heiji. I'll figure it out. I'm much smarter than you." Kazuha bragged. She grabbed the notebook from Heiji. "This makes no sense." she muttered.

"Did you figure it out?" Conan whispered to Heiji.

"We don't know for sure if it has anything to do with them, though. It doesn't really matter if we solve it or not yet. As you said, let's see if anyone comes to read it tomorrow. Just let Kazuha have her fun." Heiji whispered back.

"It's very late. You two get to sleep. Now." Kazuha commanded.

Conan didn't want to go to sleep. He wanted to continue to look for Ai, but they had checked the whole library and decided she wasn't there.

"Get to sleep, Conan." Heiji ordered. "There's nothing we can do now; we're trapped here, and you need to rest. I know you're worried, but trust me, we'll find her."

`Conan lay on the floor and was instantly asleep. Heiji looked down at him before he settled down beside him on the floor.

"Of all the people to fall in love with, Kudo." he thought.

He yawned as he set his watch so it would wake him up at six.

"Don't do anything stupid, Kazuha." he murmured. Kazuha scowled. "I'll show him." she thought. "I can figure out the code. You may be smart, Heiji Hattori, but you're still human."

Two hours later at five, she was still puzzling over the code. "That book on code breaking was no help at all." she thought. "It told about using letters to form words, but I did that and none of it works. Is it a code at all? I'll try to look for words that form sentences, but if that doesn't work, I quit." she decided.

Forty minutes later, she smirked. "I finally figured it out." she thought triumphantly. "Heiji Hattori!" she screamed. "Get up! Now!" She ran to Heiji's side and shook him until he slowly got up.


	3. Chapter 3

"What is it, you fool?" he asked

"I figured it out! Look!" she beamed.

The screaming woke Conan up.

"You fool! I can't believe it took you so long." Heiji was saying.

"She figured out the code?" Conan asked. "Let me see."

Kazuha smirked. "The message is:

_We will be relocating everyone to build the new American base. Everyone will be needed to have the appearance of a company. Everyone is to leave their mission or job for at least a month and go meet in Austin in one week, or else."_

"How did you figure it out?" Heiji asked Kazuha.

"I tried a lot of detailed and complex patterns, but they didn't work, so I decided to try a simple one. First, I tried the first letter of every word, then, I did every other word. Neither worked, so I skipped two words, then three, and I finally figured it out,¡¨ she shot a superior look at Heiji, ¡§It's skip three words." she sang.

"All right, now all we do is wait to see who comes to get the message in the morning. Kazuha, you and I will sit at the table beside the encyclopedias and Conan will hide under the table. Kazuha, you need to get some rest. I'll get you at 6:50, okay?"

Kazuha and Conan nodded. Kazuha went to sleep, and the detectives put up all the Sherlock Holmes books and the code breaker book Kazuha had used.

At 7:00 the library opened and at 7:30, Kazuha, Heiji, and Conan went to their hiding places. They waited for an hour, but no one came. Kazuha was getting bored. "Let's leave," she said.

"One more hour, okay, Kazuha?" Heiji asked.

At 9:00, a walked in and took the G encyclopedia off the bookshelf. She got out the message, sat down, and read it. Then, she wrote a reply. She bent down, reached for the V encyclopedia and slipped her reply in, and then she put the B encyclopedia behind the C.

When she bent down, Conan recognized her. It was Jody St. Emillion, the teacher on the bus when it was hijacked. So Ai had been right. He cursed himself for not believing her. After she put down the encyclopedia, Jody hurriedly left. As soon as she was out of the library, Conan grabbed the encyclopedia and searched for the message. It was under the article titled "vermouth". He reached out for it, but Kazuha got it first.

She said, "The message is:

` _By the time you read this message, he will be dead. Also, I will make sure the traitor isn't here and leave Japan by Wednesday._"

"So Jody's code name is Vermouth." Conan thought. "Who's she going to kill?"

He recalled her evil sneer and fear gripped his heart.

"Not Vermouth! I've heard Shiho talk about her. She never fails any of her missions. If Vermouth promises to find her, she's as good as dead. I have to find her first." he thought desperately.

"Let's follow her," he whispered to Heiji. Conan and Heiji shadowed Vermouth. She window-shopped for a while, the lead them to a glove store where she purchased a pair of white gloves. Conan and Heiji soon got bored. Kazuha had already gone back to the Professor's house two hours ago. Conan called the police as Shinichi Kudo and asked them to shadow Vermouth. On the way back to Professor Agasa's house, Conan and Heiji discussed plans for the rest of the day.

"Where do we look now?" Conan asked.

"We aren't going to do anything. We'll just wait for the police to call and make their report." Heiji answered.

"We have to keep looking. I can't let Vermouth find Shiho first." Conan cried.

"Yes, but we have to go back to the Professor's house to watch the news. It'll only take thirty minutes." Heiji said.

"I'm going to take a nap." Kazuha announced. 

They continued along in silence and soon reached the Professor's house.

Ai stretched. She had been working at the computer ever since the night before. She decided to eat and catch up on the news. She opened and heated a can of soup, carried it to the living room, and sat down on the couch. There had been a murder, and the police had been unable to find the murderer. The victim was killed at 3:00 this morning.

As she watched the news report, she felt the hair on her neck begin to rise, and she started trembling. After she saw the victim's body in the room where he had died, she knew he had been killed by a member of the Black Organization. She was unsure of what to do.

"Why should you do anything? It's none of your business. Just let them get away with it. ¡KIf you let them get away with it, you're just as guilty as they are. They killed your sister. What would Kudo think if you just let them get away? Does his opinion matter to you at all?" she asked herself.

"It doesn't." she said as she leapt up from the couch. "I don't care."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, however, she knew that she did care. If she didn't care, she never would have left Professor Agasa's house. If she didn't care, his tantrum on the playground wouldn't have upset her. There was only one person she had ever loved as much: her sister. She knew she couldn't hide the truth, but she had no proof and no one would believe her. She would have to call Kudo and have him talk to the police.

"He won't want to talk to me,¡¨ she thought miserably. "but I have to speak to him anyway."

She picked the phone and hesitantly dialed the number of Shinichi's tiny cell phone. It rang, and someone picked up.

"Kudo?" she whispered hesitantly.

"He's busy right now. Tell me your name and I'll get him to call you back." Heiji said. Conan was watching TV. When the phone rang, he thought it was Ran and told Heiji to go into the kitchen and tell Ran he was busy, but it wasn't Ran.

"Who are you?" Heiji asked even though he already knew.

"I'm Ai Haibara-" Shiho started.

"Oh, so you're Shiho Miyano." Heiji interrupted. 

Shiho was shocked, gasping for air.

"What? Who are you?" she asked.

"Heiji Hattori." Heiji said shortly. "Where are you, anyway? Why did you run away? Don't you know how worried he's been?"

"Who?" Ai asked, surprised.

"Kudo! He's barely slept since you left!" Heiji shouted.

"I didn't think he would care at all. I want to speak to him, now." she replied coolly. "Where is he?"

"He's watching TV." Heiji giggled.

"Just get him," she answered.

"All right, but promise me you'll never hurt him." Heiji said seriously.

" I promise. He's really lucky to have you as his best friend." Shiho said.

"I know." Heiji smirked.

He handed the phone to Conan. "It's Miyano-san."

Conan snatched the phone from Heiji.

"Shiho?" he asked, hoping it wasn't another one of Heiji's tricks.

"Kudo?" she asked.

There was no answer, but he hadn't hung up. Shiho hesitated. Was Kudo angry? Relief, anger, and happiness washed through Shinichi's brain. He clutched the phone tighter.

" I have something to tell you." they both said at the same time.

There was a pause.

"Are you mad at me?" Shiho asked.

"No." Shinichi answered. "I should be, but not now. I'm just relieved that you're not dead."

" I meant for creating the drug and ruining your life," she said.

"I stopped blaming you for that a long time ago." Shinichi replied. "When I first met you, I was angry, but not now. I promise. Why did you leave?" he blurted out.

"I need research," she answered.

"You've never lacked it before, and what's wrong with the Professor's resources? Tell me the real reason you left, Shiho." Shinichi demanded.

"You threw that fit on the playground, and I thought I had ruined your life. Besides, if I stay here, I'm just endangering the lives of the Professor, the kids, and you." Shiho said.

"It doesn't matter, just come back. You were right about the bus. Jody St. Emilion is one of them. She's Vermouth. She's after you. You have to come back here now." Shinichi ordered.

"Vermouth? She's one of the best agents. How did you know?" Shiho asked. 

"Never mind. It takes too long to explain. Where are you?" Shinichi inquired.

"Wait. You were watching the news, right? Did you see? They killed him. I know they did,¡¨ she said.

"You have no proof." Shinichi began.

"But I know. I was right about one of them being on the bus. Besides, I created the medicine that killed him. Trust me, they did it," she insisted.

As the truth dawned on him, Conan was forced to agree, and he reluctantly did so.

"I believe you," he admitted. "I should have believed you the first time. It's too dangerous for you to be alone. Come to the Professor's house now."

"That's where I am now." she lied.

"I'm here now, and you're not." Shinichi said.

"Shinichi, I don't want to go back yet. Not before-" Shiho started.

"I can't wait that long. We don't have time for you to do that. Your safety is more important to me." he interrupted.

Shiho said nothing.

"Promise me." Shinichi said. "Promise me that you'll be back by tomorrow before the sun sets no matter what, and you'll call me if anything unusual happens."

"I'll be very careful. It¡¦s not like I _want_ to get killed by them. I promise I'll call you if I feel like I'm in any danger. Bye!" Shiho said and quickly hung up.

"Shiho..." Shinichi began, hen gave an exasperated sigh as he realized she had hung up.

Ai smiled. She had made remarkable improvements on the antidote, but needed to go back to Professor Agasa's house to make it.

"Good thing I hung up on Kudo before I accidentally gave him enough clues to know where I am. I'll go back if he calls the police. That's why I called him in the first place, anyway." she thought.

"Good night, Shinichi." she said aloud to the phone before she headed upstairs to go to sleep. Then she remembered something else Shinichi had told her. Vermouth was after her.

"What if..." she thought uneasily as she drifted off to sleep.

Conan had called the police as Shinichi Kudo and told them that he suspected the murder was done by an organization that was very powerful and was going to meet in Austin, Texas within a week, and every member had probably murdered someone before. The police were shocked and demanded more information, but he told them to see about it and keep his name out of it.

"Policemen are so stupid," he thought. "At least Shiho didn't get herself killed. If Vermouth was leaving Japan by Wednesday, she was going to have to act tomorrow because it¡¦s already Monday. I hope she'll really call if anything unusual happens."

"What did she say?" Heiji demanded.

"She said the murder on the news tonight was committed by the Black Organization." Conan replied.

"I'm not surprised." Heiji looked at Conan as he spoke.

"Why?" Conan asked.

"I'm a genius, now let's go to sleep." Heiji responded. 

Conan nodded and followed Heiji back to their room. As soon as they got to their room, Heiji smirked.

"Tell me everything she said." he demanded.

Conan blushed; he looked down at the floor and said nothing.

"I've asked you before, and I'm asking you again. You like her, don't you?" Heiji asked.

Shinichi spun around. "Yes!" he shouted. He was obviously annoyed. "I don't know what to do. Ever since she left, I've just been wondering about what I should do."

"I knew it!" Heiji crowed. "Why else would you drag me over here at 5 a.m.? Plus, I also have psychic powers."

"Yeah, right. What should I do? Tomorrow is Tuesday; Vermouth said she'd leave Japan by Wednesday. If I never see her again..." Shinichi trailed off.

"Well, all I can say is wait. In the message, she seemed unsure of Miyano-san's whereabouts, so she'll need to somehow send her a message, and didn't you make Shiho promise to call you if anything unusual happened?" Heiji asked.

"Yes, but do you think she will?" Shinichi asked.

"I don't know, but I know you won't let anything happen to her, so I think she's pretty safe." Heiji replied. "What about Ran, though? You've seen how worried she's been over you, you know she likes you."

"I know Ran likes me, but I just don't feel the same way about her. We've been friends ever since we were little. I did like her before, but I never said anything, and then I met Ai, so..." Shinichi trailed off.

"It doesn't matter. It's just that we've all been friends, me and Kazuha, you and Ran. I always thought we'd be like that, but now you fall in love with someone else. I never dreamed it would happen. What's she going to think?" Heiji asked.

"Ran has been my friend for a long time, and I don't want to hurt her more in the long run that if she learns the truth right now. She may be sad and angry for a while, but one day, she'll wake up and realize that there's someone else for her, she just needs to look for him. I can't lead her forever." Shinichi replied.

"Are you just going to tell her, then? You're right, but I don't know if she can accept that." Heiji warned.

"Well, maybe she'll just notice. After she realizes there's someone else for her, we can still be friends. The four of us will always be friends. We'll just include our new friends instead of abandoning each other. When Ran finds someone else, he'll be a friend to all of us too." Shinichi said.

"I hope you're right. I think Ran's a reasonable person, but you never know... anyway, let's get to sleep. We have to find Miyano-san tomorrow." Heiji reminded.

"I know." Shinichi told him.

The boys lay down, each thinking their own thoughts.

"I will find you, Shiho, no matter what." Shinichi promised again.

"Friends forever." Heiji thought with a smile.

The next morning, Heiji, Shinichi, and Kazuha looked all over Beika again, but they still found nothing, so they returned to Professor Agasa's house for lunch.

"Will you come home today?" Shinichi thought as he sat down. He was very worried, because he knew Vermouth would have to act today.

"The mail's here." Professor Agasa announced, interrupting his thoughts.

"So?" Conan asked.

"Look at this." Heiji said, holding a letter.

It was a plain white envelope, addressed to "Sherry".

Shinichi limply sank back against the back of his chair. His hand trembled as he reached for the letter. Heiji looked sympathetically at him before he handed the letter to Shinichi. As he looked at his friend's pale face, he realized how lucky he was to have Kazuha at his side.

The mailman had just left the Kudos' house, leaving one letter. Ai went downstairs to get the mail.

"Only one letter?" she thought, turning it over. It was a plain white envelope. A plain white envelope addressed to "Sherry".


	4. Chapter 4

The letter ran:

_Dear Shiho Miyano, _

_I have a package for you. Your sister, who was my best friend, gave it to me. Something you created is in the package. Meet me at the train station, platform three, at three a.m. If you don't want anyone else to die, you'd better show up. _

Even without Shiho's sixth sense, Shinichi knew that the Black Organization had sent the letter.

"No... They know... Shiho..." Conan thought frantically. "How could they have found out about us? Everyone connected to us will be killed. I can't let that happen."

"That girl better show up. I spent all that time getting those letters, and I spent five hundred dollars on those envelopes, but if she comes, sending a letter to every house was worth it. Not only did I send them to every house, but every _building_. The kind of person who would betray the Organization wouldn't want to cause the death of another person, would they?" Belmot thought, smiling evilly as she fingered the gun in her pocket. "She'll come if she's in Beika, won't you? Sherry?"

Shaking with fear, Haibara tore open the envelope and read the letter. She knew it was from the Organization.

"What should I do?" she asked herself. "If they know where I am, they must know everything. Why did they send this letter, then? Why didn't they just go ahead and kill me? Do they want to torture me? I won't let them. They don't seem to know that I've shrunk. I can't let them hurt anyone else."

_Promise me you'll be back tomorrow by sunset, no matter what. Promise me._ Shinichi's words rang in her head. She smiled bravely as she looked around for a bottle of White Spirit.

"I can't see you again, Kudo. I can't hurt anyone else anymore." she thought. "Good-bye."

"Well, looks like we're going to the train station." Conan declared.

"What?! Are you crazy? You think she's going to the train station? Why? How do you know that she even got a letter?" Heiji reasoned.

"I don't know either. I remembered she talked about leaving so she wouldn't endanger the people next to her. She never should have left, that fool!" he burst out angrily.

"Well, if she hadn't left, you never would have realized how you feel about her. You'd just have a crush on Ran forever." Heiji pointed out.

Seeing his friend's face, Heiji went on. "I guess we're going to the train station. Even if she doesn't go, we can get Belmot," he added quickly.

"Idiot." Conan whispered.

"Come on, standing there and insulting her won't get you anywhere. We only have 15 hours before it's three a.m."

"I was talking about you." Shinichi lied. "Anyway, let's start planning."

The anxious hours passed s-l-o-w-l-y.

"I don't even know if she's in Beika." Belmot thought angrily. "This shouldn't be my assignment. The traitor probably isn't here. I don't know _why_ I spent $500 on those envelopes. This will ruin my reputation if I can't even eliminate this traitor." At this point, she opened the door and glanced both ways. Satisfied that no one was near, she took her gun out, loaded it, and put it back in her pocket.

"It's 2:50. It's illegal to open other people's mail, so no nosy bystanders should be there, but if there are, ... well, let's just say it doesn't pay to be nosy." Belmot laughed as she walked out the door. She checked out of the hotel, called a taxi, and had it take her to the train station.

"Come on, let's go." Conan said impatiently.

"I'm coming... wait, I just thought of something." Heiji walked towards the kitchen. He came back with a bottle of White Spirit. "Drink this. If they know about her, they'll be looking suspiciously at kids."

"I'm not sure if it will work." Conan said hesitantly.

"Just try it and see." Heiji insisted.

"How will you explain my appearance and Conan's disappearance? Anyway, if I turn back to Shinichi, they'll notice me." Conan answered.

"I hope they won't notice you at all. If they know, though, they'll be paying more attention to kids. Hurry, the Professor and Kazuha are sleeping. I'll just say I went to take Conan back home and ran into you on the street."

"Do you think they know?" Conan asked.

"I'm not sure, but I don't want you to take any chances, so just drink it now." Heiji ordered.

"Okay, let me borrow some of your clothes." Conan said, heading toward their room. When he emerged, he had returned to his normal state and was wearing some of Heiji's clothes.

"Let's go." Shinichi said.

"Heiji! Where are you going?" Kazuha cried. "I want to go too." She was rushing down the stairs, pulling on a sweater over her blouse, and she hadn't had time to pull her hair up in the usual ponytail.

"You idiot! This is dangerous!" Heiji screamed.

"I don't care. If you can go, so can I." Kazuha said determinedly.

Heiji knew it was useless to argue with her. "Fine, you can come. Hurry."

Kazuha noticed Shinichi. "Heiji, who's he? How did he get here?" she asked.

"Conan was whining to go home, so I took him home, and met Kudo on the street. Heiji lied.

"Are you Ran's boyfriend?" Kazuha asked.

"No, we're just friends." Shinichi explained. "Now we have to go. It's 2:45."

"Where..." Kazuha began.

"The train station." Heiji answered, knowing what she was going to ask as they headed out the door.

Ai was still searching in the Kudos' house for White Spirit. She took bottle after bottle out of the pantry.

"No, no, no. Why isn't there any White Spirit? It should work as long as it's been a while since you've drunken it." she thought. "I need it. They don't seem to know about my current condition."

She grabbed another bottle. It was the White Spirit.

"Yes! I've finally found it." she thought triumphantly.

She prepared some clothes and emptied the contents of the bottle. Nothing happened. "Is it going to work? Nothing's happening!" she thought frantically.

Just then, she felt a pain in her stomach. She began to grow. She gasped as she put on the clothes she'd prepared. "I meant nothing's happened yet." she panted. She glanced at the clock. It was almost 2:40. She took a deep breath, walked out the door, and called a taxi.

Belmot arrived at the station first. She paid the driver, gathered her belongings, and stepped out of the taxi. She walked to platform 3 and hid behind a column.

Shiho arrived next. She stopped by a mailbox and mailed a floppy disk containing all the information she'd ever gotten concerning APTX-4869 to Conan Edogawa at Professor Agasa's house. She looked around, feeling lost. "Today is my last day on earth," she thought to herself as she slowly walked towards platform 3. "This is my fate. I was just meant to create the drug. That was the reason of my existence. I made it for the most evil people on earth. My sister tried to free me from those people and they killed her. There is no justice in this world. The good guys never win. I'm coming to join you, sister." She reached the platform and walked in, shivering.

Belmot was swinging her handbag impatiently.

" If you're here, hurry up." she ordered. "I have a plane to catch. I'll just watch for the red hair. I doubt she's even here."

She peeked around the column again.

" Red, red, red. There's no red, and needless to say, no traitors." she scowled.

Suddenly, she turned around, and spotted the pretty, red-haired girl. She smiled and pulled the trigger. The second she heard the shot, she knew she was going to die. Shiho didn't even have a chance to duck. She felt a pain as the bullet hit her, and she fell to the floor. Blood soaked her clothes, and images of her sister flashed before her eyes, then, all she saw before her eyes was darkness as she fainted.

" Bull's eye." Belmot thought calmly, congratulating herself as she put the pistol back in her handbag. " Carrying only one bullet at a time means you have to be a good marksman. Or markswoman. So the traitor had been in Beika the whole time? How did she do it? How had she escaped the gas chamber? Then, how had she escaped our spies? Oh, well. She'll die from loss of blood very soon, so how she had escaped everything didn't matter much anymore. She was going to die, and that was all. We always win in the end, Sherry." Then Belmot smiled brightly and flagged a taxi.

Shinichi, Heiji, and Kazuha were running into Platform 3. They heard the gunshot, and glanced at each other in horror.

Shinichi froze. This couldn't happen. Shiho couldn't get hurt. They wanted to kill her. He had to stop them. They had already shot once. Was she all right? What if they... what if... what if...

" No." he shouted as he started running over. He wasn't thinking. He didn't want to think. He had to get to her. He had to. He didn't care if they saw him and realized that he was still alive. If they killed her, he didn't want to live anymore, either.

Heiji grabbed him. Shinichi was too emotional to think things through clearly. He shouldn't be seen here. It wouldn't be safe. What if someone in the Organization saw Shinichi? He had to keep them from seeing Kudo, and he had to keep bystanders from learning Shiho's name so nothing would spread. He groaned. This was not a good situation, and he would have to take care of it. He had an idea, but it wasn't great. However, it was the best he could do under present circumstances.

" Calm down. Go call the Professor. It's better for you not to be seen, in case...anyway, don't worry. I'll take care of things. I have an idea. No one will find out who she is. Meet me back here." he said. " Don't worry. Trust me, Kudo."

Shinichi looked at Heiji. He knew that his friend would never hurt him, and was telling him to stay away for his own good, but how could he stay away? He knew it would be stupid if he ran out there, Heiji was right. He took a deep breath, and realized that he had been irrational. Heiji was his best friend, and he could trust him to take care of things. He gave Heiji a tight, worried smile before he agreed. Heiji and Kazuha pushed through the small crowd surrounding Shiho.

"Move. I'm a doctor." Heiji shouted.

Kazuha stared blankly. "Since when?"

He reached Shiho's side and felt her pulse. It was faint.

"This girl is dead." he lied. "I've already called the police, so everyone, please resume your previous activities."

No one paid any attention. Heiji scowled. Suddenly, Kazuha had an idea.

"Look, Heiji, the train's here!" she cried.

At this, the small crowd raced toward the edge of the platform.

Kazuha smirked triumphantly. "Now what, Doctor Hattori?"

Shinichi came running up. "I called the professor." he panted. "How is she?"

"Pretty well, I think. She's still breathing." Heiji said.

Shinichi ran to Shiho's side. "Are you sure?" he asked anxiously. "It looks like she's lost a lot of blood."

"I..." Heiji started.

"The professor's here." Kazuha interrupted.

Shinichi picked Shiho up.

"Come on." he said to Heiji.

"Wait." Heiji protested. "You go ahead and take her to the hospital. Kazuha and I will meet you there later. You know, in case..." (he was going to say you shrink, but he couldn't say it in front of Kazuha)

At this moment, Shiho woke up and saw Kazuha with her hair down. Being only semi-conscious, she thought Kazuha was her sister. She tried to sit up, bu the effort was too painful and she fell back. She realized someone was holding her. She looked up and saw Shinichi's worried expression. She was confused. Was she dead? How could she see Shinichi and her sister at the same place? Her head swam, and she felt horribly dizzy.

"Kudo!" she gasped. "My sister, she isn't dead?"

Shinichi barely heard her. He looked around, but only saw Heiji and Kazuha looking at them worriedly.

"Don't talk." he ordered. "You've lost a lot of blood. You're going to the hospital." he expected to hear objections, but heard nothing. He looked down, but discovered that Shiho had fainted again. "All right, Heiji, see you later." he cried, holding Shiho and running toward the Professor's car.

"Come on, Heiji." Kazuha grabbed Heiji's arm.

"No, Kazuha. Kudo will take her to the hospital. We'll go later." Heiji said.

"Okay. Let's go to a shrine. We can get her a good luck charm and buy her some flowers." Kazuha decided.

"That's a stupid idea." Heiji objected, but secretly, he was relieved because Kazuha wasn't insisting on going to the hospital. He wondered what he would tell her when they got to the hospital. He tried to think of a good lie as he let Kazuha lead him around town.

Heiji was right. Shinichi and Shiho got on the professor's car.

"We have to go to the hospital." Shinichi said frantically to the professor. As soon as he said this, he felt a familiar sensation. He looked over at Shiho and saw that she was shrinking, too.

"Idiot! These flowers are unlucky." Kazuha yelled.

Heiji and Kazuha were at a flower stand. They had already purchased a good-luck charm for Shiho, and were now trying to choose a bouquet for her. The trouble was, they had difficulty agreeing on one.

"White?" Heiji asked

"No, white is used for funerals too much." Kazuha said.

"How about red?" Heiji suggested.

"Too cheerful for the occasion." Kazuha answered.

They finally settled for a bouquet of blue roses.

"Let's go back to the hospital now." Kazuha urged.

"Um..." Heiji began.

Shinichi was a little more relaxed now. Shiho was going to be fine. The doctors said she had just lost a lot of blood. The transfusion was done and now Shiho was sleeping peacefully. Actually, they were Ai and Conan again.

"Luckily, the professor brought some clothes for us." he thought. He was sitting at Ai's bedside. The phone rang. It was Heiji.

" Hey, Kudo. How's Miyano-san?" he asked. Then, he realized Kazuha was still beside him.

" Kazuha, don't listen to other people's conversations." he shouted.

Kazuha scowled, and Conan got the clue.

" Everything's fine now, we're leaving, but come visit Conan and his friend at the hospital. I ran into them." he said.

" Okay." Heiji agreed. "See you."

After a brief moment, Heiji and Kazuha were at the hospital.

" That guy just appeared and disappeared. He was weird. And what about that girl?" at this point, Kazuha remembered something. " Heiji, why did she think I was her sister?"

" How do I know? You must look like her." Heiji scowled. " Hurry let's go see Conan."

Heiji and Kazuha went to Ai's room.

" What should I do with these?" Kazuha asked. She was talking about the flowers and the charm.

" Give them to that girl. It'll be the same." Heiji said.

Kazuha glanced at Ai.

" She has red hair too!" she exclaimed.

" Lots of people have red hair." Heiji snapped. " Just give them to her."

" Fine." Kazuha said. She reached for a vase by Ai's bed and began arranging the flowers.

At this moment, Ai opened her eyes. She slowly sat up. She saw Kazuha fixing the flowers, and for a second, she saw her sister, but then she knew she had made a mistake. She turned around to tell Shinichi, but her eyes met with Conan's. She looked at her hands. She had shrunk again.

"Why am I alive? What happened?" she thought.

Kazuha turned around. "Here." she said, holding out the charm. "This will keep you safe from now on and lead you to a speedy recovery."

Ai didn't think a necklace would really do that much, but she accepted it with a smile.

"Thank you, but who are you?" she asked.

"They're my friends." Conan told her. "Brother Heiji and Sister Kazuha. They came to visit you."

"Oh." Haibara nodded.

Just then, the nurse came in. "You have a lot of visitors, little girl. I thought I'd bring you a cup of water." she said, smiling.

"Thank you." Ai said.

Kazuha gasped. "Water!" she cried. "I left the water running at my house. Heiji, we have to go back."

"You brainless fool" Heiji snapped. "Well, bye, K-Conan, we have to go. See you another time."

"Bye!" Conan replied.

Kazuha and Heiji went out the door, but their arguing was still heard for a few minutes, then there was silence.

"You idiot! Where have you been? Why didn't you call me about the train station?" Conan shouted.

"How did you know to come? Why am I not dead?" Ai asked.

Now that he was sure that Ai was going to be okay, his anger surfaced. Conan glared at her.

Ai glared back. "Why should I stay here?" she demanded. "If I stay, I'm just endangering you, the Professor, and the kids."

"I've told you before. If you leave, it'll only look more suspicious. Just stay and be an elementary school kid." Conan yelled.

Ai put down her head. "I didn't think anyone would really notice if I left." she responded.

Conan's mouth dropped open. "What?" he asked in disbelief. "Don't you know people care about you?"

"Who?" she sneered. "The only person who ever cared was my sister, and she's dead, dead."

Conan stared at her.

"How did you know I was gone, anyway?" she asked.

"Well, I guess I had a dream." Conan admitted.

"Ha, ha, ha." Haibara snickered. "So, let's hear what happened in the prophetic dream."

"I'm not exactly sure. I just know I woke up, and I had a horrible feeling that something had happened to you." Conan said, wishing she would stop being so sarcastic.

"Horrible feeling?" she echoed. "Are you sure you don't mean ecstatic?" Ai asked, sarcastically.

Conan couldn't stand it anymore. He took her by the shoulders. "Stop talking like that." he ordered firmly, giving her a few shakes. "Don't you know how worried I was? When you were gone, it was just like something snapped inside me. I finally figure out that..." he broke off, unable to continue. His face was flaming red. He didn't have to say anything else. Ai understood.

"What? But I thought you loved Ran." she whispered, her eyes wide.

"I thought so too. We grew up together, we've been best friends forever, and I thought I loved her too. When I met you, well, I just thought we were close friends, but when you disappeared, I realized that if I never saw you again, it wouldn't be worth living."

Ai was surprised, but she managed to hide it with a blank expression.

"Shinichi..." she began. She gazed deeply into his dark blue eyes. When she looked in his eyes, she knew how worried and anxious he had been. Now she was sorry for running off.

When he looked into her eyes, he knew everything. He was so relieved to have her back. Nothing had ever seemed more precious to him.

"I'll never let you leave me again." he thought.

Aloud, he said, "Everything will be fine now."

A few days later, Ai was out of the hospital. She moved back to the Professor's house and started to develop the antidote based on the information she had gathered. Conan never left her side.

"Here." she announced one afternoon as she handed him a pill. "It's a new antidote. I found a default in last time's and now this can last longer. I don't know how long, though."

He took it. "Are you going to eat it too?" he asked.

"Yes." she answered coolly.

Conan was shocked. "You can't! What if anything happens?"

"I've already made up my mind." she said.

"Tired of being a kid?"

"You could say that."

"I won't let anything happen to you."

"If you think it's so dangerous, why are you taking it?"

"I'll do anything you do."

With these words, Conan and Ai stepped into separate rooms and ate the pill.


	5. Never Let You Go: School

Never Let You Go (sequel to Haibara Disappears)  
Chapter 1   
Posted 07.06.04, 12:56 AM  
PyroKid

"Can you believe Spring Break is already over?" Genta complained. Genta,  
Ayumi, and Mitsushiko were walking to school together.  
"Come on, let's go to the Professor's house and get Haibara." Mitsushiko suggested.  
"Yeah! Then we can go get Conan." Ayumi added.  
The three kids arrived at the Professor's house five minutes later. They were just about to knock on the door when the Professor's next-door neighbor's door opened and two people came out.  
"I...i…it's the haunted house!" Genta screamed.  
"Professor, open the door. Let us in! Let us in!" the three kids shouted.  
"What's wrong?" Professor Agasa asked.  
"Just let us in!" they screamed.  
The door opened and they scrambled in.  
"Don't you know who they are? How can you stand living beside that haunted house?" they blurted out.  
"Them? Don't you know them? It's Co-I mean, Shinichi Kudo. You know, the famous high school detective. The other one is... um… she is..." the Professor stopped.  
"Don't believe the lies, Professor. The house is haunted, and they must be monsters." The kids shouted.  
"Where did you hear something like that?" the Professor asked. "That's ridiculous, you've never been in that house, and you've never even met them before."  
"Hey! Shinichi! Come here." He called out.  
Shinichi and Shiho walked over to the Professor's house. They both wore the Teitan High School uniform, and they were smiling happily at each other. They didn't look like monsters at all. Their smiles, however, didn't change the kids' minds and they continued to look at them as if they were bombs that might explode any minute.  
"What should we do?" Genta asked, trembling.  
"Well…….." Mitsushiko said. Suddenly, he stopped. "Hey, don't they  
remind you guys of, of…"  
"Devils?" Ayumi suggested fearfully.  
"No. Conan and Haibara. Look. Focus on their faces, see? Conan without his  
glasses? Ai's hair?" Mitsushiko asked.  
"Conan and Haibara are related to the devils?" Genta asked.  
"What should we do now?" Ayumi whispered.  
"Well…" Mitsushiko said. "Follow me, I know."  
The Detective Boys cautiously approached Shinichi and Shiho.  
"Are the two of you related to Conan Edogawa and Ai Haibara?" Mitsushiko asked.  
The smiles on their faces faded away, and Shinichi and Shiho shot each other frantic looks.  
"Um, of course not. We don't even know them." Shinichi stammered.  
"That's right." Shiho feebly agreed.  
"Come on, they're not trying to kill you." Professor Agasa said to the kids.  
Shiho raised her eyebrows as Shinichi shot the Professor a surprised glance. The Detective Boys continued to look at them as if they were bombs that would explode any moment.  
"That was a weird reaction when I asked about Conan and Haibara." Mitsushiko whispered to Ayumi and Genta.  
"They're keeping something from us." Ayumi decided.  
"This is a case for…" Genta started.  
"The Detective Boys!" Mitsushiko and Ayumi finished with him.  
"Without Ai and Conan, the brains of the bunch." Shiho said with a smile;  
she had overheard the conversation.  
Shinichi pulled Shiho towards him and put one hand over her mouth.

"You're not supposed to know that." he whispered softly.  
"Bye Professor! We have to get to school." Shinichi yelled as he pulled Shiho out of the door.  
Once they were out on the street, Shinichi gave Shiho a playful shove.  
"Remember what we know and what we don't know, okay?" he reminded her.  
"All right, I won't forget again." she said.  
They chatted happily as they walked down the street. People passing by couldn't help but give them a second glance. After Shiho had come back, they had realized how they felt about each other. Now they looked like nobody else mattered to them, and the rest of the world could disappear and they wouldn't even notice. As they walked into their classroom, many heads turned too, Shiho and Shinichi just looked like they were made for each other, nobody could help it. Everybody stared for a second, and then realized that Shinichi was back and the whispers started.  
" Look. Kudo is back."  
" Really? I thought he dropped out of school to work on cases in America."  
" Who's that red haired girl?"  
" I don't know."  
" Ran!" Sonoko shouted. " Guess what?"  
Just then, the bell rang, and everyone went to his or her classroom to sit in their seats. Shinichi didn't remember where his seat was, and sat with Shiho in the back of the room.

Even though everyone was supposed to be silent, Sonoko couldn't keep her mouth shut.  
"Ran, Shinichi is back, and…" she said  
"What? Where?" asked Ran, turning around. She spotted Shinichi at the back of the room and gave him a big smile. Shinichi saw her and gave her a small nod.  
The next few minutes were filled with Sonoko's annoying, loud voice. Shiho scowled.  
"That girl certainly is annoying," she thought, remembering how Shinichi had talked her into coming.  
She had been reading a magazine on the couch at the Professor's house when Shinichi had decided that they were going to school.  
"Shiho, let's go to school," he said.  
"What? Are you crazy? It's too dangerous." she had cried.  
"It'll be more suspicious and boring if we do nothing and stay at home all day. Besides, I went to school last time when you had that other antidote and nothing happened. And now, everyone's in Texas." Shinichi had pointed out.  
"I don't know how long this antidote's going to last. What if we change back while we're in school?" Shiho asked.  
"We'll carry extra clothes in our backpacks, if we feel anything, we can run to the bathroom and change, then say we got lost. No one is going to believe that we can turn into kids." Shinichi argued.  
"You go to school. I'll just stay home." Shiho said.  
"No. I'll do whatever you do. I'll only go if you go with me." Shinichi said. He was afraid that Shiho might run away again, and he hadn't left her side since she'd been back. They had discussed the issue for a long time, and Shiho had finally agreed to go to school with Shinichi. She had gone to his house this morning, which was where she lived when she had run away.  
"I wish I hadn't come now." She thought as she sat at her desk silently.  
Having to listen to Sonoko's voice put her in a bad mood and she sat silent  
and unmoving at her desk like an ice princess.  
The hours dragged by. Finally, it was time for the last class, biology.  
Shiho sighed in relief. Shinichi looked at her worriedly. She hadn't said a  
single word since school started.  
The teacher handed out a worksheet and announced that they were going to  
dissect fetal pigs. She started assigning groups to work together, four people to a group. She paired Ran and Sonoko with Shiho and Shinichi. Shinichi groaned  
inwardly and Shiho scowled.  
"We finally do something interesting and Shinichi and I are stuck with  
that stupid, talky girl." Shiho thought. Then she looked at Ran. At least she's not like her stupid friend. She thought. She couldn't help but feel sorry for Ran. Ran looked so sad and lonely and confused. But then, she reminded herself that anyone who would be friends with a fool like Sonoko must be crazy. "Anyways, all's fair in love and war." She sneered and shrugged.  
"This is going to be horrible." Shinichi groaned. Shiho is in a horrible mood because of Sonoko's annoying voice, who could help it? But what if Ran tries to kill her? Maybe we'd better just leave. If Ran gets mad, who knows what she'll do? I know she's going to be mad. I don't want to hurt her feelings and lie to her, but then again, I want to live.  
"Tell the truth." Shiho said softly. She said it so softly, at first  
Shinichi didn't realize she had spoken. Just as Shinichi had been able to  
see that Sonoko annoyed Shiho, she had seen what he was thinking about.  
As soon as they reached the lab station, Sonoko snatched the instructions.  
"Okay, first thing we do is …um…um…oh, here we go. Make a horizontal  
slit across the head." she announced.  
Shinichi yawned, Shiho rolled her eyes, and Ran looked at Sonoko uncertainly.  
"Uh, Sonoko," Ran started. "I don't think…"  
"The first thing you do when dissecting is make a vertical slit across the  
stomach." Shiho icily remarked in a very annoyed voice.  
"Shut up." Sonoko snapped angrily. "You don't know anything at all. Look  
right here! It says: Make a horizontal slit across the head."  
"If I'm not mistaken, that step should be one of the last ones." Shiho  
said coolly. "You're on the wrong page." Shiho snatched the instructions from Sonoko and rearranged them. "There. The first step is to make a vertical slit on the stomach." she said. She threw the papers back to Sonoko and began working to the worksheet.  
"What are you doing?" Sonoko asked. "You can't do that. We haven't  
even dissected."  
"So what? I don't need to dissect to know the answer. I know all of this  
trash." Shiho sneered.  
"Oh yeah? Well, I bet you won't know the answer to this question. How  
many toes does a pig have?" Sonoko asked.  
"Take off your shoes and count." Shiho snapped.  
Shinichi laughed, and Ran tried to conceal a smile. Sonoko's face flushed angrily, and Ran stopped smiling, but Shinichi laughed louder. Sonoko glared at Shiho, who continued to work coolly on the worksheet. Maybe she was bending her head to hide her smile, though. This thought did nothing to calm Sonoko, of course. It only fueled her anger.  
"Fine! Don't come crying to me when you fail." Sonoko warned.  
Shiho fail science? Shinichi thought. This made him laugh even harder.  
Shiho turned around and tried to muffle her laughter, but it was useless. Ran and Sonoko stared blankly at each other. They didn't see why Sonoko's last comment was so funny, so they stared at Shinichi and Shiho as if they were crazy. Just then, the bell rang for a break, and all work stopped at once.  
Shiho got up and closed her notebook.  
"Where are you going?" Shinichi asked in alarm.  
"I'm just going to get a drink of water." Shiho answered.  
"I'll go with you." Shinichi said as he got up.  
Shiho shrugged and nodded. "I won't run away again," she said to Shinichi. He nodded, but went with her anyway.  
Sonoko and Ran looked at their disappearing figures.  
"Who does Shinichi Kudo think he is? And who's that girl? Why did she come to school with him? What's up between them? How dare he?" Sonoko raged. "Ran, aren't you mad too?"  
"Yes!" Ran cried. "Who is she? What did she mean, ' I won't run away again?"  
"Yeah, that girl seems to think she's a genius. What does she mean, "I already know the answers? Sure she does." Sonoko jeered.  
"I don't know." Ran said. "Sonoko, do you think she and Shinichi are more than just friends?"  
"Well, there's only one way to find out. Let's ask them." Sonoko decided.  
"No, Sonoko…" Ran protested, afraid of what the truth would be.  
But Sonoko had already made up her mind, unfortunately.  
Shinichi and Shiho came back from the water fountain, looking happy and  
relaxed. As the sat down at the lab station, Sonoko stood up.  
"All right, tell us everything." she shouted. "Where did two meet?"  
Shiho and Shinichi were totally unprepared for her question. They looked at each other. Shiho didn't want Sonoko to see how frantic she was, so she smiled at Shinichi. He smiled back at her, but he was unsure of what to say too.  
"In America." Shinichi lied, after it was obvious that Sonoko wasn't going to change the subject.  
"How?" Sonoko demanded.  
"None of your business, you nosy girl." Shiho said.  
"Sonoko, I don't want to talk about it." Shinichi objected.  
"I do." Sonoko yelled. "So we're going to discuss it."  
"My sister." Shiho said. "We met because of my sister."  
"What?" Sonoko cried. "You mean he dated your sister first?"  
"No!" Shiho shouted angrily. "You don't know about my sister. Quit making your stupid assumptions."  
Shinichi saw how angry she was and knew that she couldn't really stand talking about her sister. He quickly thought of a lie to tell Sonoko to shut her up.  
"If you must know, Sonoko, it was on one of my cases in America. The bad  
guys captured her sister and I stumbled in on the case. I tried to help and  
find her, but it was too late. She got killed," he stammered.  
Sonoko, Ran, and Shinichi all turned to look at Shiho and saw that her face  
was wet with tears. Ran and Sonoko gasped. Shinichi wasn't sure if she was really crying or just pretending. He pulled out his handkerchief and gently wiped her tears away.  
"Shinichi…" Shiho sobbed. Shinichi pulled her to him and let her cry on his shoulder.  
"I'm sorry I let her die." he whispered.  
"What's going on here?" the teacher demanded. Break had been over for a long time, but the four of them hadn't noticed because they were concentrating too much on their conversation. Unfortunately, the teacher had noticed them, and accosted them. She angrily gave them and extra chapter to do for homework.  
"Now get to work." She ordered before angrily walking away.  
"This is so unfair." Sonoko complained as soon as the teacher was out of earshot.  
Everyone else had too much on his or her minds to be worrying about extra homework. Sonoko's statement was ignored. Ran was sitting on her stool, quietly, trying not to cry, pretending to work on her worksheet. Shinichi and Shiho had broken apart and they were both trying to look busy.  
"Fine, he didn't save her sister, what's she doing here? All those times he called he never said anything. It was just cases, cases, and cases. Shinichi, at least tell me everything." Ran thought.  
Shiho bent down so her red hair hid her red cheeks. She had already finished the worksheet, and now she opened her book to do the extra chapter.  
"Things are going to get bad. I wish Sonoko would shut up. If she doesn't, well, I have to tell Ran sooner or later, but I don't want to in front of Sonoko. At least I never said anything to Ran." Shinichi thought.  
"Well, don't come crying to me when you make the lowest grade ever in the  
history of Teitan High School."  
Shiho sneered. "Sure, sure, sure." she said. "Let's see who makes the lower grade."  
"Young lady, some people are trying to work." The teacher snapped to Sonoko.  
"But, but…" Sonoko stammered, then pointed at Shiho. "She's not working."  
"I'm already finished." Shiho informed the teacher.  
"Fine, turn it in. Anyone who doesn't turn it in today gets a zero. And you four, don't forget that extra chapter." The teacher announced.  
Sonoko groaned loudly. "This is so unfair!" She shouted as the bell rang.  
"Class dismissed." The teacher continued.  
"Where do you live?" Sonoko asked Shiho. "I'll walk you home."  
"Sonoko, it's nice of you to offer, but it's not necessary." Shinichi hurriedly interrupted.  
"You can't go back to the Professor's house. Two red haired girls living there would be too suspicious. I have a feeling that certain people we know will try to find out more about you." He whispered to her. He handed her the keys to his house.  
"You don't have to climb in from a window this time." He grinned. "Let me in when I get there. I'm calling to tell the Professor to check on you, so don't go away." he started to walk away, then stopped.  
"I'll be there soon. Don't lock me out." he said.  
"I'll let you in." Shiho assured him with a smile. "I'm going right home, so don't worry."  
Sonoko tried to hear the conversation, but Shiho and Shinichi were speaking far too softly for her to hear. She frowned.  
"Bye!" Shiho called to Shinichi. He nodded, and then walked toward Ran.  
"Ran, I need to talk to you." He said. "Meet me at the coffee shop below your dad's detective agency."  
"You go ahead." She said. "I still have to pick up my stuff." She turned around and started packing her books in her book bag. Shinichi left, muttering, "Phase One of Operation 'Suicide' completed." He expected to see Sonoko in his way, but she wasn't there.  
Sonoko had decided to follow Shiho. "There's something about that girl." She thought as she followed her. She hadn't gotten very far when she saw Shinichi leave school and walk in the opposite direction, away from his house. She hesitated, pondering about whom she should follow. Ran walked out and went in the same direction as Shinichi; that seemed to help Sonoko reach her decision, and she quit  
following Shiho. Shiho scowled as she saw Sonoko follow Ran. She had seen Sonoko's reflection in a shop window, and had been sneaking glances at her ever since.  
I'd better stop her. She thought. She called Professor Agasa, and told him she was going to be a little late, then went after Sonoko.  
Ran walked slowly to the coffee shop. Shinichi was waiting for her in the  
doorway. They selected a table and sat down.

Suddenly, the door flew open and Sonoko burst in, followed by Shiho.  
"What's up, Ran?" Sonoko asked innocently.  
"They don't want to be bothered." Shiho said, trying to drag Sonoko out of the shop.  
"Let go. Leave me alone. I came in here to get, um, to get some coffee. I have a right to get coffee, don't I?" Sonoko snapped.  
"I want to talk to Ran alone." Shinichi said, looking at Sonoko. Shiho turned and left, but Sonoko sat down at the next table and ordered a drink.  
Shinichi was annoyed, but he turned and started speaking to Ran.  
"I'm really sorry, Ran. I know you're probably very mad at me right now. First I went off to America without saying anything to you, and then came back without telling you, bringing Shiho with me. We've been friends since we were little, but our friendship really doesn't go any farther than that. I'll admit that for a brief period of time, it stretched a bit farther than that, but that all changed when I met Shiho. I'm very sorry if you think I led you on. I hope we can still be friends, but that's entirely up to you."

Shinichi turned to Sonoko.

"Shiho excels in science, so you won't be seeing her fail science anytime soon. I know you're naturally curious, but don't try to probe. If you do, you won't even be around to be sorry. Even Ran's excellent karate skills can't help you. I'm not threatening either of you, I'm warning you of a threat. The less you know about it, the better. If you stumble onto anything, everyone connected to you will disappear. No one knows anything except themselves and a few people who are their victims. If you snoop, like I said, you won't even be around to be sorry. The danger doesn't stop there. It also threatens your families, friends, etc. Don't get nosy and you'll be safe."

He turned back to Ran.

"Even though I don't have the feelings I used to have for you, you're still my friend and I don't want to see you get hurt."

He stood up, pushed his chair in, and started to walk out. Ran stared at him, then stood up and pounded her fists on the table.

"Wh…who said I ever liked you anyway? I don't care." She yelled as she ran from the store.

Sonoko stared after her, too shocked to speak.

Ran tried not to cry as she ran up the stairs to her house, but her tears kept falling down her cheeks like rain.

"Why? Why?" she kept asking herself. She flung open the door to the Mouri Detective Agency. Kogoro was sitting in front of the TV, a can of beer clutched in his hand, watching Yoko, his favorite star sing.

"Ran, you're finally home." He said as the commercials began. "Can we have dinner now?"

"I don't want to cook dinner. Leave me alone." Ran sobbed.

"What's wrong with the girl?" Kogoro asked himself, caring only about his dinner. "Now what'll I eat?"

He walked into the kitchen and looked around. There was plenty of food to eat, but Kogoro had no idea how to cook.

"Never mind, I'll just go out and get a bite to eat." He thought, reaching for his wallet. "Ran, I'm going out." He shouted as he walked out. Ran ignored him.

"What's wrong with Ran?" Kogoro wondered as he strolled into a small restaurant, this time worrying a bit. "If she doesn't come to her senses soon, I'll have to eat out everyday."

He walked around, looking for a table. Suddenly, he accidentally tripped over a shopping bag and found himself flat on the floor. He slowly picked himself up and saw the bag that had caused him to trip.

"Stupid bag." He muttered.

"You really don't have anyone to blame but yourself. You should watch where you're going." A voice sneered coldly.

Kogoro recognized that voice. He looked up.

"E…Eri." Kogoro gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"What? Can't I come here and eat? Where's Ran?" Eri asked.

"Well, Ran, actually…" Kogoro said as he seated himself in the chair across from Eri.

"Hey, where's Genta?" Mitsushiko asked.

"He's back there." Ayumi answered.

"Look! That guy's breaking into the haunted house!" Genta yelled.

"Isn't he that guy Conan told us about when he got out of the hospital?" Mitsushiko wondered.

"When he got shot?" Genta asked.

"Yeah, he's acting very suspiciously." Ayumi noted.

"I bet there's treasure in that house and he's trying to get it. Let's get it first!" Genta shouted.

"The Detective Boys…Will now search for the hidden treasure that lies inside this haunted house!" the three kids shouted, throwing their fists in the air.

Shinichi had arrived at his house, only to find the front door locked. After ringing the doorbell ten times and knocking nineteen times, he finally decided to just crawl in a window. Luckily, he found one.

"Very funny, Shiho." He thought, thinking that an open window on the ground floor was just too convenient. He sighed in annoyance, and then crawled into his own house. Once inside, his annoyance quickly turned to panic as he realized that he had been in front of his house, knocking, for an hour. Shiho would have let him in… unless she wasn't in the house. He rushed to the phone and called the professor.

"Hello?" answered the Professor.

"Professor?" Shinichi asked. "Professor, is Shiho over at your house?"

"No, she told me you said it would be too suspicious of two girls with red hair lived here, so she was staying at your house." Professor Agasa informed him.

"What do you mean, 'she's not at my house?'" Shinichi screamed.

"Hey, what are you yelling about, Shinichi?"

Shinichi spun around. Shiho was standing in the doorway with the usual cool expression, looking a little sleepy.

"Oh, never mind." Shinichi said to the Professor in an apologetic tone. "Sorry. Bye."

After hanging up, he turned around.

"Why didn't you let me in?" he demanded.

"Sorry, I was bored and I just fell asleep." She smirked. "How long did you stand outside?" she sat down on the couch and turned the television on to the news channel.

"Only one hour." Shinichi answered grumpily as he sat down beside her.

"Don't be mad. I am sincerely sorry." Shiho said airily as she leaned back.

"A case even Kogoro Mouri is unable to solve." The reporter announced, going into the details.

Shinichi brightened, then snickered.

"Of course he can't solve the crime. Without me, he's useless." He announced delightfully.

"Yes, Kogoro is pretty stupid." Shiho agreed. "But you can't solve the case right now either. There aren't enough clues from the news report. The murder occurred yesterday and there wasn't that much information. The police must have been there. Kogoro loves media attention. If no one else was there, he would have told everything so he could be in front of the cameras longer."

"Policemen are stupid too, Kogoro is just more idiotic. Well, I guess if they said a murderer was on the loose, people would go crazy." Shinichi decided. "I'll have to call the police to get all the information."

"You'd better call Kogoro too. The news said Kogoro was there first, and only called the police after he finally realized he couldn't solve the case. The news story was more about how Kogoro was unable to solve the case." Shiho told him.

"I'd love to see Kogoro's face right now." Shinichi smirked, then scowled. "Why do the police have to be so secretive?"

"It makes them look bad because they can't solve the crime either, plus, Kogoro called them in as a last resort, and policemen are generally more secretive than loud mouthed detectives." Shiho answered. "Not all people want their failures to be headline news."

"Well, who called the reporters?" Shinichi wondered. "I don't think the police did, and even Kogoro wouldn't call them when he couldn't solve a crime, and why was it on the news a day later? This sort of thing should make live news."

"The murderer could have called the reporters and Kogoro." Shiho stated.

Suddenly, they heard:

"Look at all these spell books. If we get one and sell it, we'll be rich."

It was the Detective Boys. Shinichi had been too worried to close the window, and the Detective Boys had entered the house the same way he had. Now they found themselves in a room filled with books. Shinichi and Shiho gave each other a look, and then went towards the sound of the voice.

"These are very cleverly disguised as mystery novels." Mitsushiko was saying.

"But they can't fool the Detective Boys." the kids yelled as the door opened, revealing Shiho and Shinichi standing in the doorway. The kids fell silent and stared fearfully at them. Then as if on cue, they all started screaming.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh…"

"Help!"

"Don't eat us!" as they scrambled towards the door.

"Hold it right there." Shinichi ordered.

The kids froze in fear.

"Come into the kitchen." He said as he grinned mischievously at Shiho. The Detective Boys took his grin as an evil sneer, and began praying silently that they wouldn't be eaten.

"Aren't you hungry?" Shinichi airily asked Shiho.

"Well, now that you mention it, I am." Shiho answered as she led the Detective Boys into the kitchen.

Shinichi opened the pantry door. "Well, which one should we eat?" he asked as he looked in the pantry. "Red, blue or green?"

Shiho had caught on by now. "Red is nice." She told him as the Detective Boys looked down at their shirts. Ayumi was wearing red, Mitsushiko blue, and Genta had on a green sweatshirt. The Detective Boys looked at each other and panicked.

"Please don't eat us. You can keep your treasure, we won't tell anyone about it." They begged, close to tears.

Shinichi turned around, pretending to be surprised.

"What?" he asked innocently. "We're just talking about which cake to eat. See? We have three cakes. One's in a red box, one's in a green box, and the other one's in a blue box."

"Cake!" the greedy Genta shouted.

"Here's a knife, Shinichi. I'll get some plates." Shiho handed him a knife.

"Can we have some too?" Genta asked hopefully.

"Well, okay. If you tell us why you came in." Shinichi answered.

A few minutes later, they were sitting at the table, eating cake. At first, Mitsushiko and Ayumi had been a little apprehensive, but the cake was delicious, and now they were eating happily too.

"We're sorry we broke in…" Mitsushiko began. The kids began to explain why they had thought Shinichi was breaking in and the events that followed.

"Well, Kogoro, I'll admit I don't know what's up." Eri admitted. The two of them had actually had a peaceful dinner, except for the beginning. Eri had been kidding Kogoro, which made him angry. Kogoro had told Eri about Ran's strange behavior, and it had been their topic of conversation during dinner.

"Why don't I go home and talk to Ran? Maybe I'll get something our of her." Eri decided.

"All right, come on, let's go." Kogoro agreed.

They got up and headed back to the Mouri Detective Agency together.

"Ran? Ran? Ran!" Eri shouted. She looked around and saw that Ran was on the couch, staring into space. She fell silent. Ran hadn't even noticed her.

"Hey, Ran, are you ok?" Kogoro asked.

"Don't bother me." Ran snapped.

"Ran, I have a surprise for you." Kogoro continued.

"Dad, I said, 'don't bother me'." Ran said in an agitated voice.

"But Ran, your mom's here." Kogoro announced.

"Yeah, right. You know she won't come into your stupid agency. You're just lying. Lies, lies, lies. They're all lies." She screamed.

"Ran, what's gotten into you? You know you shouldn't speak to your father that way." Eri said.

"Mo…Mom?" Ran asked incredulously. "But…but, you…you…what?"

"What's wrong with you, Ran?" Eri asked.

"Sorry mom… I just, I… I," Ran began, but couldn't finish.

"Ran, you can tell me." Eri told her.

Ran broke down and told everything to her parents.

"I can understand your feelings, Ran, but I don't think it's a great loss. I never thought Shinichi was right for you. He never appreciated my cooking." Eri said, comforting Ran.

"That imbecile!" Kogoro screamed. "Who does he think he is? I'll get him, and I'll get that girl, too!"

Ran and Eri stared blankly at Kogoro in astonishment. Their eyes were wide with surprise, and before either of them had a chance to say anything, Kogoro had rushed out the door, heading for the Kudos' house.

Upon reaching the gates, he thrust them open and rushed to the front door. He pounded repeatedly on it with all his strength.

The Detective Boys had finally left. Shiho got up and started to wash the plates. Shinichi yawned, sighed in relief, and stepped over to the sink to help her. As he reached for a plate, his hand brushed against hers, and he remembered how worried he had been this afternoon.

"Shiho, when I stood out there this afternoon, I thought you had left again." He paused and looked at her. She was looking down at the plate she was holding. He took the plate and set it aside, then held her hands.

"When you were gone last week, I realized how much you meant to me. I know that before, you only had your sister, but other people care about you now. I'm not saying, 'forget your sister', but next time, just remember that other people care about you now, okay? Please don't run away again. Don't leave me." He pulled her closer to him. She looked up and met his gaze coolly.

"I know." She said calmly. "I'm sorry."

They stared at each other, and then brought their faces closer together. Just then, they heard Kogoro's pounding on the door and broke apart. Shinichi was very annoyed, but he went to answer the door anyway.

"What do you want?" he demanded as he swung the door open. Then he looked up and saw Kogoro. "Oh, it's you, Mr. Mouri. Do you need help with that case?" he inquired. "I saw it on the news." He added.

"No! Why did you do that to Ran? She's…depressed. She won't talk to me. She just sits on the couch staring. It's all your fault. I'll make you sorry." He launched himself at Shinichi.

Shinichi sidestepped, and Kogoro found himself flat on his face for the second time.

"Is something wrong?" Shiho asked. She was annoyed too. She knew Kogoro, but she didn't think he was the type that just broke in and attacked people.

"You!" Kogoro shouted. "I'll get you too." He drew back his fist, but Shinichi grabbed it.

"Get off my property! You're trespassing. Go, before I call the police." Shinichi ordered. "Don't make me retaliate," he warned.

"You don't scare me. Come on." Kogoro taunted, pulling them out of the house.

Shinichi glared at Kogoro, then picked up a rock and kicked it at Kogoro's face. He didn't miss.

"Ow! My face has suffered too much today! In front of Eri at the restaurant, falling, and now this!" Kogoro shouted. "Shinichi Kudo! I'll get you." Kogoro charged at Shinichi again.

"This is enough! Leave!" Shinichi ordered.

"Fine! I'll leave. Ran is too good for you anyway! My daughter doesn't need you!" Kogoro shouted.

"I'm sorry Ran is upset. I know she probably hates me right now, but I hope she'll figure out that there's someone else out there for her. I don't want to ruin our friendship. I hope we can continue to be friends." Shinichi said to an angry Kogoro. Kogoro turned around, held his head up high, and marched out the gate.

Professor Agasa had heard the noise and went over to see what was wrong.

"Nothing much, that lunatic just came over and tried to attack us." Shiho replied coolly when the Professor asked. They led the Professor into the house and started explaining why Kogoro had attacked them.

"Mom, do you think Dad will really go attack Shinichi?" Ran asked Eri.

Before Eri had a chance to reply, the door opened and Kogoro stomped in with a mark on his face.

"Dad, what's wrong with your face?" Ran gasped.

"Think about it!" Kogoro screamed. "Who do we know that likes to kick things?"

"Shinichi did that to you? He wouldn't do that, would he?" Ran asked. "What did you do?"

"I gave them a visit." Kogoro mumbled, looking at Eri.

"_Right_. It was just a visit." Eri sneered. "Kogoro, tell us the truth."

"Fine, Eri. I went to his house and tried to attack the two of them. I didn't actually succeed in doing anything, that's all." Kogoro admitted.

"Kogoro, you used to be a policeman, don't you know you can't do that?" Eri yelled.

"Well, I can't stand to see Ran like that." Kogoro replied defensively.

"You'd better apologize to him before you get a lawsuit in your hands." Eri advised.

"Apologize?" Kogoro asked. "Kogoro Mouri won't apologize! If a lawsuit comes up, you'll defend me, right?"

"No." Eri snapped. "I'd lose the case and my reputation."

"But what about Ran?" Kogoro asked.

"Well, Kogoro, Shinichi did sat he still wanted to be friends, he's just realized the cares for someone else. Anyway, you wouldn't want your daughter to have a boyfriend that likes to kick stuff at you, would you?" Eri demanded.

"Dad, Mom's right. You shouldn't have done that. I know you're concerned about me, and angry with Shinichi. I like Shinichi, and I want him to like me, but if he doesn't, there's nothing I can really do. Just give me a little time. Everything happened so quickly, I don't know what to think, but I do know that I can still have a happy life and we can still be good friends. I just need to accept that. I'll eventually be okay." Ran slowly said.

"Right, feelings can't be forced." Eri told her. "I think you've been worrying about too much lately. Why don't I move back in for a while to cook and keep the house clean, and relieve you of some of your burdens?"

"Really, Mom?" Ran asked in disbelief. Her eyes were shining.

"If your dad has no objections." Eri answered, looking at Kogoro. Ran looked at her dad hopefully too.

"Well…Okay." Kogoro agreed. He couldn't say 'no' when Ran wanted Eri to stay so much. "I don't object."

"Thank you, Dad!" Ran shouted happily. "Every cloud does have a silver lining." She thought.

"So Kogoro came and tried to kill you?" the Professor asked.

"Yes, basically." Shinichi answered.

"Well, Ai, how do you like school?" Professor Agasa asked.

"Very easy for me. I've already done all of my homework." Shiho replied.

"Homework? Oh no, I still haven't done mine." Shinichi cried. "I've got to go do it."

"Ha ha ha." The professor laughed. "Well, it's getting pretty late, I won't bother you any longer. Have fun doing your homework." He called as he left.

"Shiho, _please_ help me with my homework." Shinichi pleaded, after making sure the professor was really gone so it wouldn't be too embarrassing.

"You should do it by yourself, really. It's pretty easy, so don't worry." Shiho assured him.

"But it's already 11:00! It'll take me until morning to finish this." Shinichi panicked.

"See you tomorrow." Shiho yawned. "I'm going to sleep."

Shinichi sighed and took out his papers. He had barely begun to work when Shiho came back in with a pillow, and sat down beside him. She put the pillow on the desk in front of her, then leaned and put her arms and head on it. She turned and smiled at Shinichi.

"I changed my mind. After you finish a page, I'll check it for you. Just ask me if you have any questions." She said.

"Thanks!" Shinichi grinned and started working. Shiho looked up at him from 'her' pillow.

"Even brilliant high school detectives have to do homework, Shinichi." She thought with a snicker.

Shinichi worked steadily, and Shiho checked all of his homework for him.

"Do your homework when I do it tomorrow, okay?" she asked when they were done an hour later.

"Sorry for keeping you up. Thanks for helping me. I'll do it earlier tomorrow." Shinichi replied gratefully. "All right, let's go to sleep. You can sleep in the guest room." He led her upstairs.

"Whose room is that?" she asked, pointing to the first door they passed.

"Mine." Shinichi informed her. "Why?"

"Oh. Well this is your pillow then." Shiho replied as she held out the pillow.

"Thanks." Shinichi took the pillow. "Here's the guest room. It's right beside mine. Good night. We have to wake up at six tomorrow."

"More like good morning." Shiho replied coolly. "Six hours of sleep sounds wonderful."

"Well, okay. I'll cook breakfast since you helped me with my homework and you can sleep for forty-five extra minutes." Shinichi offered.

"Don't poison my share." Shiho yawned. "Good night."

"Good night." Shinichi walked back to his room, carrying his pillow.

The next day, at 6:45, Shiho awoke to knocking sounds on the door. She quickly sat up.

"What?" she called as she stretched.

"Come on, hurry up and come downstairs. Time to eat breakfast." Shinichi shouted cheerfully.

"Coming, coming." Shiho yawned again. She got up, dressed, washed her face, brushed her teeth, and combed her hair. She walked towards the stairs and started down. As she neared the lower level, she smelled something that resembled burnt rubber and saw a little smoke.

"Are you trying to smoke a cigarette?" she demanded.

"No. It's your breakfast." Shinichi replied. Shiho could hear the laughter in his voice. She entered the kitchen, dreading what she would see.

She down at the table and Shinichi put a plate in front of her. She looked down, and all that met her gaze was a pile of black, charred pieces scattered across the plate. She couldn't even tell what it was _supposed_ to be.

"You expect me to eat _this_?" she asked coldly.

Shinichi laughed, then turned around and handed her a carton of milk, a package of bread, and an apple.

"I burnt our breakfast, so I had to go out and but something decent to eat." He explained. "Then, I decided to see how you would react if I gave you that trash."

"Was my reaction appropriate?" she sneered.

"Don't be mad. It was what I expected, only I thought you'd eat it anyway because I cooked it." As he said this, Shinichi couldn't help but smirk.

"Very funny." She muttered as she snatched the edible food. She tore open the wrapping and took a bite out of the bread. Then, she remembered Shinichi.

"Want some?" she asked, offering the bread to him.

Shinichi shook his head. "I've already eaten."

She took the bread back and continued eating it happily.

"When does school start?" she asked as she started on the apple.

"7:45. It takes about ten minutes to walk there, and it's only 7:00 right now." Shinichi looked at his watch.

"Well, it can't hurt to get to school early. Let's go." Shiho handed Shinichi his school bag. They went out the door, heading for school.

"_She_ excels in science? Well, just wait until I make the highest grade in class. Shinichi has no idea how smart I am." Sonoko smirked.

"Sonoko, since when did you become the best student?" Ran whispered.

"Since…since now!" Sonoko stammered.

The day dragged by slowly. Even though her mom moved back in because of what happened yesterday, Ran couldn't help but feel a little betrayed, and she had avoided Shinichi most of the day. When science came, however, the students were told to go to their lab stations with their groups from yesterday. The teacher began to hand out papers.

"The worksheets weren't bad, but there was only one 100." The teacher announced.

Sonoko smirked at Shiho.

"She's talking about me." Shiho snapped.

"That's just what you think." Sonoko retorted.

The teacher handed the papers back facedown. Ran got hers first, then, Shinichi, Sonoko, then Shiho, who received hers last. Ran turned hers over, and everyone leaned over to look at it.

"94?" Sonoko thought. She smirked at Shiho. "If Ran made a 94, I definitely made the hundred. I dissected the pig, and we worked together."

Shinichi turned her paper over. It was a 98.

"Things are looking good." Sonoko crowed. "Just wait and see. Now I'm sure I made the hundred."

Shiho laughed.

Sonoko glared at her, then raised her paper high in the air without looking at it. "Look at my grade!" she crowed. Everyone just looked at her.

"Hey, what's wrong with you people?" she demanded.

Everyone burst out laughing. Ran was trying not to laugh, but it was useless.

"Good job, Sonoko!" Someone yelled.

"I know." Sonoko bragged.

"This is what you get for being an overconfident fool." Shiho gloated.

"What are you talking about? You're the one who failed." Sonoko snapped. "What makes you think I was being overconfident?"

"Turn your paper around and see."

"What?! 91? I'm going to see the teacher. This has got to be a mistake." Sonoko raved.

"Aren't you being overconfident too?" Shinichi whispered.

"Of course I'm not. I'm never overconfident." Shiho replied coolly as she turned her paper over. Of course, it was the hundred. Just then, Sonoko came back, muttering about incompetent teachers. When she saw the 100 on Shiho's paper, the expression on her face changed from anger to disbelief.

"But…but you didn't even stick around to watch the dissection!" Sonoko wailed. "What happened?" Then Sonoko brightened. "Oh, well, a 91 isn't bad. I'll make a hundred next time." She bragged.

Shinichi burst out laughing. Even Ran couldn't hold it in and started chuckling. Shiho, however, was studying Sonoko's paper with a frown on her face.

"Sonoko," she began softly. "You paper is upside down." 


End file.
